Ellen Degeneres, appearing on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno Monday, voiced her opposition to California’s Proposition 8 by saying financial contributors supporting a ‘yes’ vote on the measure “don’t need to promote hate.”

“There’s a lot of people raising millions of dollars. They are trying to take this away from us and trying to stop gay people from marrying…,” Degeneres said. “I look at the people that are losing their homes and that are foreclosing, and people in Texas that have lost their homes. There are so many people that need money right now and if you are raising money right now, and if you are raising millions of dollars, give it to those people right now because you don’t need to promote hate.”

Proposition 8, as defined by the Yes on 8 campaign, places into the California Constitution the same language that voters already passed by 61% of the vote in 2000. This is necessary to overturn an outrageous California Supreme Court decision that overturned Proposition 22, supporters say.

Proposition 8 is about preserving marriage; it’s not an attack on the gay lifestyle. Proposition 8 doesn’t take away any rights or benefits of gay or lesbian domestic partnerships. Under California law, “domestic partners shall have the same rights, protections, and benefits” as married spouses. (Family Code § 297.5.) There are NO exceptions. Proposition 8 WILL NOT change this.

Proposition 8 is simple and straightforward. It contains the same 14 words that were previously approved in 2000 by over 61% of California voters: “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.”

Because four activist judges in San Francisco wrongly overturned the people’s vote, we need to pass this measure as a constitutional amendment to restore the definition of marriage as between a man and a woman.

Jay Leno also voiced frustration as to why people would be against gay marriages, saying he visits West Hollywood frequently and that “it’s the nicest area, the cleanest area, the safest area.”

“I don’t get it,” Leno said. “If two people want to do something together…”

Ellen DeGeneres is not alone in mourning the passage of Californian’s Proposition 8, an initiative that would change the state’s constitution to require that marriage is between a man and a woman. The City and County of San Francisco, the City of Los Angeles and the County of Santa Clara have sued to invalidate Proposition 8.